Running head: PROGRESS REPORT XII 1

EMWiT Progress Report XII

Paulina Hall, Lauren Warner, and Shannon Woolfolk

April 27th, 2017

Dr. Psaker

The Governors School at Innovation Park

Objectives:

Finish the commutator and begin second stage of testing.

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Materials and Methods

Progress:

The copper brushes were glued to the interior of the aluminum motor frame with epoxy

putty to securely keep the pieces from moving further apart from the commutator. Originally, the

strips were bending away from the commutator when the armature was put into the aluminum

frame and secure contact with the commutator was not fully achieved. This contact is necessary to

pass a steady electric current from the brushes to the commutator and wire coils. The epoxy putty

keeps the copper brushes closer together and completely secure so they will not bend away from

each other and the commutator. Copper commutator pieces were plated with solder to continue the

process of making the commutator wider, improving the commutator further by enabling better

contact with the brushes. The new plated pieces were secured on the original pieces and wire using

a soldering iron. This tedious process caused a few of the copper pieces to unstick from the epoxy

putty due to the heat radiating from the soldering iron being in contact with the top copper pieces

and the solder located in between. Each new copper piece proved difficult to solder onto the

original piece and wire because the existing solder would heat up and detach itself from the wire

and original copper piece. To avoid this, the initial copper piece and the wire was plated again so

the pieces would stick together without overheating the commutator, preventing separation. The

two combined pieces had to then be reattached to the rod and existing putty by adding another thin

layer of epoxy putty where the copper piece would sit. In order to add more putty, the combined

copper pieces and surrounding epoxy had to cool down in order for the new epoxy putty to harden

around the pieces. A picture of the newly completed commutator was added to the website under

the media tab and the website has continued to be updated.

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Figure 1: This picture shows the result of adding new copper pieces onto the commutator. The

double pieces allow better contact with copper brushes because the commutator is wider. The

copper pieces were first plated (both the original and the new pieces) and then soldered onto the

existing commutator pieces. Later, epoxy putty was added to even out the surface and keep the

brushes from catching on the uneven copper. This addition creates greater continuity for the current

when the motor is running.

Work planned over the next two weeks:

Data testing for a continuous current in the motor will be retested, along with placing the

armature back in the motor frame and attaching the motor to a battery to test for efficiency. Once

the motor is completely functional, the top of the aluminum frame will be riveted to the side of the

cylindrical frame, securing the armature inside. Data testing, like the process used to test the bought

motor and the wind turbine, will occur (see Progress Report IX). Once data testing is complete,
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the science fair board previously constructed will be modified with the new data and media. The

website will continue to be updated testing ensues and final touches to the electric motor are

completed.
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Data and Results

No new data at this time.

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References

No references at this time.